Friday, July 21, 2006

The great goat adventure (part 3)

The great goat adventure, part 1

A literary goat note


Dr. Bubba let me know that the American Meat Goat Association had their annual meeting and convention last weekend in Sonora, Texas. Unfortunately, we were in Charleston, South Carolina that week, and couldn't leave dilapidated Charleston for scenic Sonora. Their website doesn't offer any recipe help, either.

I did talk to the meat company here in town again. Goat is $3.69 a pound, and it's in stock.

I've also decided to use the basic BBQ recipe for this test. It's not fancy, but every BBQ joint, competition team, or hobbyist uses some variation on this basic theme.

The requirements

Some meat. Preferably a piece that's big, tough, and cheap.
A supply of hardwood or charcoal. Oak, hickory, pecan, mesquite, or fruitwoods are all good.
Some kind of enclosure with a fire pan and a grill for the meat. Works best if the meat isn't sitting right on top of the coals; then you are grilling, not BBQing.

  1. Pile up wood in the cooker.
  2. Set it on fire. Bonus points if you don't set anything else on fire.
  3. Wait for it to burn down to coals. The coals should be covered in fine gray / white ash, have few (if any) visible flames, and not smoke much.
  4. Put the meat on the grill and close a cooker.
  5. Wait.
  6. Wait.
  7. Seriously, this is going to take a while. Why don't you go inside and get a cold drink, and maybe watch some TV.
  8. Check the meat.
  9. repeat steps 5-8.
  10. When the meat reaches 200 degrees, and looks like a meteorite, bring it inside.
  11. Wrap it tightly in foil, and let it cool for a while.
  12. Slice, pick, pull, or otherwise reduce it to bite-sized goodness.
  13. Enjoy.
Maybe I'll also put some kind of rub on it, but that's the basic recipe to try. I'll let you know how it goes.

4 comments:

Aaron said...

I may dry rub it, with Adams beef fajita seasoning. I think it's mostly salt, pepper, and garlic; it's also good on most things--beef (obviously), whole chickens, pork shoulder, ribs. It doesn't do so well on chicken breast, though; it makes a gummy crust on it.

I probably won't use a brine or marinade. Those work well with pork and chicken, but soaking beef will make it mushy. I'm not sure what it will do to cabrito, so I'll probably skip it.

Dr. Bubba said...

Hey Aaron,

So what does this mean?

Works best if the meat isn't sitting right on top of the coals; then you are grilling, not BBQing.

What kind of coals...wood or charcoal?

Are you saying if you are not right over the coals or fire it is grilling?

DB

Aaron said...

If you are using direct heat radiated up from the coals (wood or charcoal, or a gas flame), then you are grilling. Most or all of the cooking happens on the side facing the fire, and the other side doesn't get very hot at all.

True barbecue is done with indirect heat transfered all around the meat by conduction / convection. The meat cooks gently all the way around, but doesn't have to be turned.

Dr. Bubba said...

Oh I misunderstood your sentence. It would help if I actually knew how to read and write. ;) I read it the opposite.

Yes agreed. So is that an official technical mumbo jumbo? I do not know.

The side fire boxes are how we did it most of time. So no direct heat and the smoke moved thru a baffle to the meat area.

Cool. Thx.

Let us know how the goat comes out.